The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A mobile device is generally a hand-held computing device that typically has a display screen and/or a miniature keyboard for receiving input from a user. Examples of mobile devices include cellular phones, mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and the like. Mobile devices are generally able to perform many functions of a conventional computer including, for example, connecting to a network, receiving and transmitting e-mails, and downloading files. However, a mobile device may not have the ability to open or render on a display some of the files downloaded to the mobile device due to, for example, lack of appropriate application programs installed in the mobile device. For example, although a mobile device may be able to download a Microsoft Word® file, the mobile device may not be able to open the file or display the file on its display (e.g., because a full version of Microsoft Word® is not installed in the mobile device). Furthermore, mobile devices do not generally have an inherent connection to a printer. For at least these reasons, it is generally not possible to print various files from mobile devices.
Wireless communicative connections can be created between mobile devices and printers, including multi-function printers, in order to transfer information between the mobile device and the printer. Such transfer of information can include sending a document from the mobile device to the printer to be printed, or scanning a document on a multi-function printer and sending the scanned document to the mobile device.
Creating such communicative connections can be complicated and require many steps to create an association between the mobile device and the. There are emerging processes and techniques being developed that simplify the procedure for negotiating secure connections between mobile devices and printers. However, such procedures may only be implemented on newer printers that include additional hardware to perform various tasks such as, Near Field Communication (NFC) connections or WiFi direct connections. NFC is a set of standards for mobile devices and similar devices to establish communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few inches. WiFi direct connections between a mobile device and a printer can be achieved via a printer that includes an “access point” that transmits a beacon that includes a service set identifier (SSID) for use in connecting a mobile device with the printer. However, the added hardware needed for NFC connections and WiFi direct connections adds expense to newer printers and/or to mobile devices in order to support such NFC connections and WIFI connections. Furthermore, this limits creating communicative connections to being between mobile devices and newer printers since older “legacy” printers do not include the necessary hardware and software or firmware.